Senator Reid to Showcase Las Vegas Organizations Leading the Way on Clean Energy
Las Vegas – Senate Majority Leader and Nevada Senator Harry Reid and Center for American Progress Action Fund President and CEO John Podesta announced that National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 will include a clean energy tour on Tuesday, August 11. Senator Reid and Mr. Podesta will be highlighting projects that focus on the future of clean energy.
Joining Senator Reid and Mr. Podesta on the tour will be Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy Cathy Zoi and White House Council on Environmental Quality Special Advisor Van Jones.
The clean energy tour will highlight three sites in the Las Vegas community that are undertaking green initiatives to help build a clean energy future.
I. Rob’s Ridge Solar Project – Bombard Electric has installed two solar powered emergency stations for use by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. This tour stop will showcase packaged solar panels being loaded onto helicopters for transportation to the top of Rob’s Ridge for installation.
II. MGM MIRAGE’s CityCenter – An informative visit to learn about the sustainability initiatives undertaken at one of the world’s largest green developments. Understand the objectives, the efforts and the challenges faced by an experienced developer that chose sustainability as its guide in building an unprecedented 18-million-square-foot project, now on track to achieve a combination of gold and silver LEED® ratings and features ranging from the first energy-generation on The Strip through an 8.5 megawatt natural-gas co-generation plant and the first-ever CNG-powered stretch limousines. CItyCenter has significantly advanced green building in this market by introducing hundreds of designers and vendors and thousands of construction trade and craftsmen to sustainable building techniques that can now be utilized at future developments in Las Vegas and beyond.
III. University of Nevada, Las Vegas: Solar and Renewable Energy Minor Program – With the assistance of a donation by NV Energy, UNLV developed a new undergraduate educational program in sustainable energy that will be offered to students beginning in the Fall 2009 semester. The tour will provide an inside look at the facilities and an opportunity to hear from faculty and students affiliated with the program.
Following the clean energy tour the participants will be making brief remarks regarding the importance of alternative energy sites such as those visited.
All participants joining the clean energy tour will be riding natural gas city buses. Media interested in attending should contact Wendy Zamaripa at [email protected]. Space is limited and subject to availability.
The National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 taking place August 10-11 is being sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, US Senator Harry Reid and UNLV. For more information about Summit 2.0, please visit www.cleanenergysummit.org.
# # #
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kate Turner Whiteley/Craig Nyman
Kirvin Doak Communications
702.737.3100
[email protected]
[email protected]